Blog:Metro Group boss taking all roads East

Metro Group, a titan of the world’s retail scene, is going through a period of transition. A new chief executive has got his feet under the table and is making changes right across the business.

Much of today’s (18 March) headlines from Metro’s HQ in Dusseldorf rightly centred on the admission from CEO Dr Eckhard Cordes that the company’s hypermarket business in Germany could be scaled back in the coming months.

However, perhaps more telling were signs of Metro’s moves to expand internationally. As indicated on these pages last autumn, Metro may once have been at the forefront of globalisation in the retail sector but now, with growing competition from the likes of Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco, the German giant needs to reassert itself internationally.

Look behind the headlines of Metro’s domestic business and you see that the company is looking to expand its Real chain further into Eastern Europe, with Ukraine the next port of call.

And today on these pages, we bring you news of Metro’s plans even further east as the company plans to spend some US$75m expanding its cash-and-carry business in India.

With Cordes, a former DaimlerChrysler executive at the wheel, it will be nothing but an interesting ride ahead for Metro.

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